


Here I Am

by ZoisiteMoon



Series: The Gemstone Saga [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Politics, F/F, F/M, Gem Royalty, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Ovoviviposition, Royalty, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-03 22:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 14,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4117461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoisiteMoon/pseuds/ZoisiteMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl and Garnet have been queens of Chalcopyrite for quite a while now, but there's still something they need to vent out in order to take their relationship to the next level. Meanwhile, there's a conspiracy going down...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Visitor

It had been two Earth years now since Zoisite was defeated, and Garnet and Pearl were coronated as Chalcopyrite Queens. Ruling over a kingdom was never easy to begin with, but having two queens to equally share their duties (as well as share their advantages) together was rather helpful, to say the least. It was also a first for the queendom itself since, up until that point, reigns always consisted of only one queen and a chancellor. Speaking of, their chancellor Lapis Lazuli had proven to be a significant improvement from Chancellors like Xenotime (from the reigns of Queens Chalcopyrite and Variscite) and Zoisite (from the reigns of Queens Jubilee Diamond, Wonderstone, Anyolite, and Diamond); in fact, she was cited to be probably one of the best ever.

Anyway, they had so far ruled over everyone fairly well. However, if there was one thing they never told anybody about, it was the unresolved sexual tension that had festered after their little tryst in the days of Michelangelo. Garnet, for the longest time, had tried to subdue the uneasiness and trepidation that came with this, but it was becoming more difficult as time went on. Finally...

"I have something to say." Garnet spoke out as they were sitting on the queen-sized bed in the master bedroom. "I don't think I can take this anymore."

Pearl instantly caught on to what her companion was talking about. She whipped her head around and said in response, "I know, Garnet. It's been so long since we've mated that by this point, I know the sensation would be almost foreign to us. However, re-learning an old habit like this would almost be exhilarating. In all honesty, though, I've been hesitant to try this again, but we'll get there when we get there."

"Your Majesties?" someone called out. "There's someone who wishes to see you."

"Who is it?" Pearl asked.

"A Gem named Larimar. She says her mother is plotting to usurp you from the throne."

"And she wants me to come out there, correct?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

The white Gem got up from her spot and exited out of the bedroom to meet the supposed messenger.


	2. A Revelation

Pearl came out into the throne room where she was greeted by the face of her trusted Chancellor as well as the visitor.

Chancellor Lapis Lazuli had grayish-pink skin that almost looked perpetually oily, and seemed rather jarring against her poofy, blue topknot bun that was streaked with gold and white throughout. Her outfit was very militaristic, just like Zoisite's before her, only paletted with blues instead of whites.

As for Larimar, she had Caribbean blue skin with her hair and eyes being a few shades darker. She had on a loose white dress with a short skirt and no sleeves, as well as Roman sandals and a gilded crown of laurels.

"You called for me?" Pearl asked Larimar.

"Yes." the ditzy light blue Gem answered. "My mother Pearl the Elder has wanted you dead ever since you and Garnet took power, your Highness." She shrank a bit out of fear.

"Can you explain why this is?"

"No. I have no idea why she'd want to kill you. But I've been dead to her for a long time, whatever that means."

"And just how did you find out about this?"

"Uh... I think my father Blue Topaz told me."

"Is that all?" All of a sudden, the white Gem Queen paused for a brief second and thought. "Wait a moment..."

"Wait for what?"

"It sounds like you and I have the same parents... Come to think of it, you look quite a bit like me."

"So?"

Pearl turned her head to focus on Lapis. "Chancellor, get the physician here now. Tell her I want a DNA test performed this instant."

Lapis saluted her Queen and ran off to fetch the physician.

A little while later...

"Well..." began the physician, who happened to be a Prehnite Gem given her light green coloring. "I couldn't believe it myself at first, but the results say that you two are in fact sisters."

"What?!" Pearl asked outrageously.

Larimar simply made an O-face and turned towards her newfound sister. "Can you believe this?" she mouthed happily.

Pearl replied, "I don't know. I mean, our mother wants me dead. Our own mother wants to kill me for being the Queen." There was even less color in her face than usual, if that was even possible.

Garnet came out and comforted her co-Queen. "We'll figure something out, I'm sure." she assured her.


	3. The Gist of It

"Larimar, sit you down." Pearl commanded of her newfound sister.

The Carribean blue Gem did as she was told with no questions about it.

"I'd like to get some things out of the way if we are to get along." the white Gem Queen began. "First of all, I'm used to being correct when it comes to most situations so please don't be surprised if it comes down to that."

"Okay." Larimar simply said.

"Second, being monarch is my main priority. You and my old pals back on Earth are somewhere in the bottom."

"Mm-hmm."

"Lastly, in order to keep you safe, Garnet and I will have to supervise you during all intervals whenever you come here; that is, unless we're not around, then it's our Chancellor's duty. Got it?"

Larimar tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Sorry, could you run that with me again?"

Pearl sighed heavily. When it came to brightness, Larimar was more than likely a six-watt light-bulb. Still, she was family (and blood family at that) so tolerance wasn't optional; not it'd matter anyhow since Larimar could be a potential threat (or very dead) if nobody kept her in check.

"Well, anyway..." Pearl resumed. "I hope you can behave under our watch. You can do that, can't you?"

Larimar excitedly nodded her head.

"I hope so, too." the white Gem Queen muttered in exasperation. "I can't afford so much stress so soon."

She and her sister got up out of their seats and started walking towards the courtyard. The courtyard always seemed to be a marvelous, utopian attraction; after all, some of the best architects this side of the Palladium Coast had been responsible for its inception and had even come up with the idea of decorating it with carnations and hibiscuses everywhere. Pearl felt this would be an ideal place to start touring, and so proceeded to lead her sister along.

"Wow... how do you guys manage to keep it beautiful?" Larimar asked curiously as she followed her sister.

"Top-notch gardeners." the white Gem Queen replied simply. "How else?"

Larimar just seemed to stare off forever at the copious flora in the courtyard while she continued to follow her regal sister. Meanwhile, Pearl was trying to figure out how to tell Larimar about how sexually famished she was, without breaking her delicate psyche. It wasn't like she'd have a problem telling this sort of thing to someone like Steven, but still...

As Pearl was mulling this over, Larimar continued to daze about and began to imagine herself amongst the floral nymphs. But just as Larimar was getting ahead of herself, Lapis suddenly appeared and caught the white Gem Queen off-guard.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but your other Queen wants to discuss something with you." Lapis told her.

"Is this about how to stop my mother?" Pearl asked. "Because I'm still working on it; besides, I haven't gotten to figuring out her motive yet."

"No, uh... It's about... your small problems."

"Lapis! Not in front of Larimar!"

Lapis turned to the Carribean blue Gem. "Sorry..." she apologized.

Larimar was confused by all this, enough so to snap out of her daydream. She craned her neck at her sister and asked, "Is there something I should know?"

"No, Larimar." Pearl then diverted her attention back to Lapis. "Why don't we continue this back inside?"


	4. Things Fall Apart

After their discussion, the two Gem Queens decided that maybe it was time to take a break from ruling over an entire queendom. Pearl was especially conceding about all this, since she seemed concerned that all this power was getting to her head, what with her demoting everybody else she loved to bottom priority and all.

They had decided that, for about four Earth days, they would come back to Beach City and reunite with their friends. The old gang must've been curious about the Queens' lives in Chalcopyrite and how exactly they adjusted to being monarchs for a while now; after all, the last time the gang had come there was before their allies Zirconia and Chalcanthite had died.

Pearl was hoping that her mentor Tanzanite was settling back into being leader well, since the blue Gem seemed rather eager to take the reins again and reclaim her original role. The white Gem Queen also wondered how Steven was coping with Connie and her family living in Canada. The Indian girl had had a rough couple of years since Zoisite violated her and her family had to move away, and the fourteen-year-old boy couldn't bear to imagine how broken she probably was right now. (What was especially tragic was that the rape had left her unable to have children, much to her father's disappointment.)

Anyway, as the Queens had finalized their decisions, Larimar came in and sneaked a hug on Pearl from behind.

"I'm going to miss you..." Larimar spoke with her face buried into her sister's back.

Pearl managed to extend her arm back to where Larimar was and pet her between the shoulder blades. Garnet let out a furtive smile as she watched this.

"Alright, just be good for the Chancellor, okay?" Pearl giggled a bit, humored by Larimar's affectionate behavior.

Larimar just optimistically nodded her head before she replied, "You can count on me, Your Majesty!" while simultaneously winking.

"I hope so." Garnet simply stated.

With that said, the two Queens were off. At that moment, Blue Topaz the cerulean-hued pointy-eared Gem dropped by.

There'd be no problem figuring out where Pearl got her slender frame and hair texture from, but that was pretty much it when it came to everything else. His facial features were somewhat chiseled out a bit more, giving him the appearance of a preteen boy approaching puberty; the lips were noticeably thinner, the nose was absolutely miniscule but raised a bit at the bridge, and the eyes- light blue in color, to be specific -were wider than they should've been.

Pearl the Elder, on the other hand, was a bit meatier than expected. Her long, disheveled hair barely moved an inch as she hobbled along with her lover and babbled to herself. Like her daughter, the Younger, she had white skin, a pointed nose and peach-colored hair; but that was where the similarities ended. The eyes, which had an unsettling look to them, were a silvery gray- as was her blood -and her lips were definitely a lot more plump.

"Poppy!" Larimar cried out as she ran to them. "Momma!"

Blue Topaz extended his arms and embraced his daughter. Pearl the Elder, however, just scowled and mumbled incessantly as she watched the scene.

"Dear, I know you don't think Larimar's your daughter anymore, but you could at least put on a smile and pretend to be happy." Blue Topaz told his wife. He focused on Larimar. "What are you still doing here? You were supposed to come back home after you reported to the Queens."

"Guess what, Poppy?" Larimar spoke up. "I just found out the Queen Pearl is my sister!"

Blue Topaz's eyes widened immensely, as did Pearl the Elder's. How could he have not recognized his other daughter underneath those regal clothes? Never mind, at least he knew Larimar was safe. He didn't seem to notice, however, that his wife had just summoned her weapon, a glaive just like her daughter's, and was about to unleash onto her unsuspecting victim. Lapis Lazuli was there and had caught sight of this.

"Mistress Larimar, Master Blue, watch out!" Lapis cried.

Pearl the Elder swang her spear towards the base of Larimar's neck, but the Carribean blue Gem shrieked and dodged the move. Left frustrated, Pearl the Elder then charged after her while still clutching her weapon and kept slashing at her.

"Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favour and to prettiness!" the white Opheliac Gem shouted repeatedly as she chased after her daughter. "Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favour and to prettiness! Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favour and to prettiness!"

Lapis and Blue grabbed onto Pearl the Elder from behind, and did their best to restrain her. However, she proved to be too strong for them to hold back and she broke free, ramming towards Larimar once again. This time around, Larimar was about to fight back. The back of her mouth started glowing and before long, she blew azure-colored fire into her mother's face. Pearl the Elder was left seething and howling in pain as the afflicted skin was burning off and the pearl on her forehead was left with several tiny cracks.

"Larimar, that was amazing!" Blue Topaz cried out in surprise.

Initially the Carribean blue Gem was confused by this, but then she saw her mother on the ground while covering her face and asked, "Did I do this?"

"Yes, yes you did." Blue Topaz smiled. "You better be ready to kill if she comes after you and Pearl again."


	5. Sexy Times

Meanwhile, Pearl and Garnet had finally arrived at their destination. The Crystal Temple seemed to be just as spectacular now as it was when they had left it; that is, if you ignored that one of the hands had broken off and it looked like some of the others weren't going to be far behind. But regardless, it had remained the same.

"I was worried about this..." Pearl muttered when she caught sight of the missing hand.

"Well, I'm sure Tanzanite and the others will do something about it." Garnet assured her. "C'mon."

"Y'know, I can't help but remember when we had made love for the first time..." the white Gem suddenly brought up. "And what was so strange about when we were going into Michelangelo's room: well, I had the choice to stop you but for some reason, I didn't... but maybe that was because I didn't want to pass up what I thought would be a once-in-a-lifetime risk."

"I was wondering about that."

"I figured you would be. But now I want to do it again... only this time for all eternity."

"All eternity, huh? Well, what do you say we let eternity start right now?"

"You're not 'pulling my leg' as the humans say it, are you?"

"No. I'm dead serious."

As soon as they arrived inside the Crystal Temple, they were a bit surprised (and to some degree, disappointed) to find that nobody was home at the moment. Garnet didn't seem to mind, though; at least they'd have the place to themselves for a while.

"Well, fair lady..." Pearl started off in a rather hammy Shakespearian way. "...I'll have you decide: do you wish to do this in my old room or yours?"

Garnet thought about this for a moment before deciding, "You know what? I think we'd get into the mood faster if we did this in your room."

So they went into Pearl's room, only it wasn't her room anymore. Yes, Tanzanite had taken this space for herself and had even personalized it to her own needs. In fact, Pearl would dare say, Tanzanite's style (sophisicated but simplistic) was a perfect fit. The large body of water below seemed to be the only thing about the large domain that hadn't changed at all. Curious to see how it was holding up, Pearl jumped down and stood on the water surface's very molecules.

"Come on down, Garnet!" she called from below. "The water's just fine!"

Garnet did as told, but she instead plummeted down with a loud splash before coming back up for air. Pearl giggled at this for a bit before helping her friend up onto a rock platform.

"Thank you." Garnet voiced while trying to catch her breath.

"No problem." Pearl replied. She then added, "But this is only the beginning. Wait one moment and shut your eyes."

Garnet did as she was told again. Pearl's gem started glowing brightly and in a short time, she disrobed her regal clothes entirely and unveiled her nude twiggy body.

"Oh, another thing." the white Gem spoke again. "Keep your eyes closed while I undress you."

"Okay." Garnet didn't say anything else after that, for she knew that the art of speech had to be foregone in a moment such as this. Her gems began glowing, dimly at first but progressively growing brighter and brighter. During all this, she, too, forsook her royal dress and coat, eventually exposing herself in more ways than one.

"Alright, you may open them now." Pearl smiled and eagerly looked on at her beloved queen.

As Garnet opened her eyes, she couldn't help but feel a draft come over her unclothed body. This new feeling gave her goosebumps, much to Pearl's amusement, and also became the impetus for sudden and oncoming titilation. Soon, Pearl began kissing her queen like there was no tomorrow.

"Goddessdammit, Pearl..." Garnet moaned as she felt a tentacle erection coming up. She shuddered repeatedly as Pearl covered every part of her large, muscular body and scampered about. "...you're so tiny and majestic..."

"Thank you." Pearl politely replied.

"...but you can be just as powerful here as when you're queen..."

"Oh, really? I always thought you'd be, given how strong you are in combat."

"You'd like me to show you?"

By this point, Garnet's clitoris had fully transformed into a tentadick again, much to Pearl's amazement. Once Garnet managed to get her instrument through Pearl's defenses, they could truly begin their fun.

"Oh, Garnet!" Pearl screamed as she felt Garnet penetrating her cervix. "Yes, Garnet! Yes, yes, right there!" The white Gem clenched her teeth, suppressing a moan as she experienced an orgasm coming through her. She fastened herself to her lover's wide hips as her insides felt all shuddery and loose. Pearl then cried out in such pleasure, "Mm, oh yes, harder! Harder! Harder, better, faster, stronger!" while Garnet continued to thrust into her. After about twenty minutes of nothing but fucking and orgasms, Garnet let out an audible groan and came about as much as five and a half pints inside of her lover.

"Oh dear Chrysoprase!" Pearl breathed. "That was the best sex I ever had in my life! Unfortunately, I'm not sure I want to continue on with this anymore."

"Are you sure?" Garnet asked uncertainly.

"I'm sure. But why don't we just wait here until the others get back?" Pearl looked up at the door anxiously.

"Seems fair."

And they waited, and waited and waited. Pearl couldn't help but grow impatient as the minutes went by; however, she had Garnet there to spare herself the boredom in case she felt the urge wash over her again. Finally, they heard something. Pearl teleported near the door and caught sight of her mentor Tanzanite outside. She had just gotten home with Topaz and was just now settling herself onto the couch.

"Good." Pearl sighed to herself. "At least she's not coming over here anytime soon."


	6. Overwhelming News

Tanzanite came inside her room a little while later and noticed the nude Gem lovers lying on her bed. To say she was humiliated by this sight would've been a huge understatement.

"What in the infinite layers of the Underworld are you doing here?" she asked outrageously.

"We were just waiting for you to come, that's all..." Pearl fudged.

"But what happened to your clothes? And what's that dripping out of you?"

"Never mind that." Garnet said. "We just decided to stay down here for a while and have Lapis act as ruler while we're gone."

"Welcome home, then." Tanzanite greeted, changing her tune as she did so. "I've missed you so much. But first things first: you need to put on some clothes." She smirked a bit to conceal how humourous she was finding all of this. "I'd hate for any minors to walk in on you like this..."

At that moment, Fluorite suddenly showed up next to Tanzanite.

"What is dis?" she asked before noticing the nude Garnet and Pearl laying right there. "What da?"

Pearl just stared on before she stammered, "Yes, w-well anyway... Tanzanite, please close the door before anybody else walks in on us like this!"

A month later...

Pearl sat upon her throne, sighing anxiously with one hand cupping the left side of her face and the other stroking her stomach. It was becoming a bit of a nervous tic lately, especially since Garnet had been gone on a missionary trip for about half a Mineralian day (six Earth weeks, which was needless to say 1,008 Earth hours) and she was supposed to be coming back in just a few geo-minutes. The white Gem Queen wasn't so sure how Garnet was going to react to this at all; in fact, she seemed totally and utterly afraid that Garnet would just up and abandon them immediately.

With her to provide comfort were her father Blue Topaz and her sister Larimar. Blue Topaz had been wanting to see how his older daughter was doing ever since she got back, and so decided to pay her a visit. Larimar had seemed unusually happy about this, but Blue just shrugged it off as just being a special quirk of hers. What at least mattered to him was that everything was alright in Larimar's world.

"I'm sorry, Father." Pearl spoke. "I'm just not ready for her to come back. Honest to Granite, I'm not. What if she decides to leave me alone? to take the fall when something goes wrong? to have to raise a child I know will never inherit anything of value, let alone this throne? I don't think I could handle all that myself..." She sighed heavily and pursed her lips.

"Pearl, please-" Blue was about to interject when he was interrupted.

"And no, aborting the child is not a part of the equation. It has never been, for me. How do human women sleep at night knowing they can just kill their own children in utero whenever they want?"

"Pearl, relax. I get that this can be very stressful for a lady like you, especially of your position, but it's not the end of the world. Trust me."

"What am I supposed to tell her anyway? 'Oh, Garnet, I missed you so much while you were gone. By the way, I'm pregnant?' Oh, how I wish I knew how to deal with these sort of things!"

"I know, Pearl, but everything's going to be fine, and if I'm being honest here, I think Garnet would love to be there for you and the baby."

"Yeah!" Larimar cut in. "From what I've seen of her, I don't think I can imagine her being gone at all."

Pearl reached over and ruffled Larimar's hair. "Oh, Lari, you're so blissful and naive. I haven't seen it in a long time since Steven was with me."

"Excuse me?" Larimar furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Oh, I never told you about my surrogate son Steven?" Pearl asked, genuinely surprised by this. She then chuckled a bit awkwardly before continuing, "He's one of the first Gem hybrids to have actually lived beyond birth. As you probably know already, we're compatible with pretty much every organism that has ever existed, and as Steven proved, yes that includes humans."

"That sounds cool!" Larimar spoke up with enthusiasm.

"Yes, it is fascinating. He is, in fact, the reason why I want to learn more about human culture and why I still have hope for humanity. You know what? That thought actually made me feel better."

"Speaking of things that'll make you feel better, Pearl, how about some tea?" Blue suggested.

Just as Pearl was about to answer, Garnet came onto the scene.

"Oh!" Blue was caught off-guard by the hot pink Gem Queen's sudden appearance. "So, um, how was your missionary trip?"

"I thought it fared well." Garnet simply replied. "But I regret not having Lapis talk to the Spodumene chancellor Wiluite for me the entire time. I couldn't help but notice how much of a fragile flower Wiluite was, like she was literally crying at every opportunity. I'm not sure why the people would've elected her like they did."

"That's too bad..." Pearl couldn't help but sympathize for the crybaby Wiluite. She quickly changed the subject. "Y'know, my father had suggested that we all have tea. What say you?"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea, if you ask me." Garnet answered again. "I think we all need some time to relax after what's been happening in our lives. Grossular Forums, anybody?"

"Certainly." Blue perked up.

"Me too!" Larimar joined in.

Pearl felt a sweet smile grow on her face as she thought about spending the time with her beloved Garnet.

Pearl and her family and Garnet all lounged around the tea shop in the Grossular Forums, just sipping tea quietly. Aside from a few jokes being cracked here and there, no one really broke the silence, for everybody was invested in his/her own thoughts at the moment. The tea did at least bring comfort to everyone, though, so that was a plus.

"I cannot tell you how happy I was when you came back." Pearl finally brought up to Garnet. "I missed you so badly."

Blue Topaz chuckled at the bit of affection his daughter showed for her fellow Queen.

"I know." Garnet smiled slightly. "I could tell."

The white Gem Queen continued, "Anyway, I'm glad you came back when you did. I can only imagine how beautiful you must've been when you presented yourself to the other Spodumenians and how envious they must've been of you and that Calaverite Queen Danburite. Oh dear Chrysoprase!"

"What's going on, Poppy?" Larimar whispered.

"I think Pearl is about to share something with us." Blue whispered back.

"What?"

"Just keep quiet. I don't want us to spoil the moment."

Garnet tilted her head at what Pearl had said, but prompted her to go on.

"Garnet..." Pearl stammered. "I love you." The white Gem Queen then reached over and embraced her Queen while sighing on her shoulder. "I'd like for us to finally be lovers now..."

Garnet was still smiling. "Of course we're going to be lovers, and we will be, starting today..."

Larimar and Blue just looked on in shock and excitement.

"That is wonderful..." Blue nodded slowly and quietly. "Just so... wonderful." He then suddenly remembered about the important thing that was probably gnawing at the base of his daughter's skull. "By the way, Pearl, isn't there something you'd like to tell your new lover?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Your father said you wanted to tell me something?" Garnet asked Pearl when they got back to their palace.

"Yes..." Pearl muttered anxiously, pondering how she should tell her beloved Queen the big news. "Um, how exactly do I need to tell you? Remember when we retreated back to Beach City and we had the whole Temple to ourselves and then we made love just like we did all those years ago back in Florence?"

"Of course I do. Why do you ask?"

"Garnet, I-I'm pregnant. I've only known about this for about a week, please forgive me."

Garnet at first was in disbelief, but she got over it in just a few geo-seconds and then said, "Pearl, I don't know about you, but I think that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard since we got here." The hot pink Gem gave her Queen a decent hug that lasted for a brief moment in time.

"What are we supposed to do, though?" Pearl asked when they let go. "My mother'll be too far gone and obsessed with killing me to care about my condition, even if Father does try to talk some common sense into her. I can't bear to think about it."

"I'll do my best to protect you, no matter what happens." Garnet assured her Queen. "I am and always shall be yours. Trust me on this, okay?"

Pearl nodded slowly and hugged her Queen again.

Meanwhile, Blue Topaz and Larimar had just met up with Pearl the Elder. This time, Blue decided to talk with his wife alone in another room while Larimar was left with a family servant. While the Carribean blue Gem was mostly left to her own devices, Blue was sitting from across his wife in two identical ivory sedan chairs.

"Darling, something important just came up in our daughter's life." Blue began to speak. "Now I know you probably don't care anymore by this point, but just in case you do, I'll tell you anyway."

"Something important, something important..." Pearl the Elder pursed her lips at this. "What could it be that's important, so much so that you just felt like bringing it up, beloved husband?"

Blue sighed, "Darling... it's our dear Pearl. She told me that she's pregnant."

Pearl the Elder widened her eyes in bewilderment and fright, and murmured to herself, "Pregnant? Pregnant?" She then proceeded to babble that word to herself repeatedly (as well as intermittently) for a while before eventually going quiet.

"Well?" Blue asked when he hadn't heard anything from her for over five minutes.

"So it's come down to this..." Pearl the Elder muttered fiercely. "First, she dares assert herself to the best kind of power in existence next to being a deity, and now she will raise her child, her child, to have that power when she goes and takes Garnet with her into the afterlife? Now I have more motivation than ever to off her before she goes mad! Our daughter must die!"

"Dear..." Blue reached over and took one of Pearl the Elder's hands, squeezing it to calm her down. "Our government is an elective monarchy, remember? When Pearl and Garnet are dead and gone, we'll just elect another Queen. So there's no need to worry, see?"

"Easy for you to say since you're one of them! I'm not about to sit around and let our firstborn get away with this! If I do, all she'll do is breed tyranny and despotism and have everything go straight to hell! And then what's going to happen to us? We'd might as well be better off dead than miserable... this isn't right, Topaz! I need to rectify this dilemma before it ever starts!"

"Listen to yourself, Pearl. You're starting to sound more and more like a firebrand. Do you honestly think you're going to start a revolution just so you can overthrow the monarchy and save us from tyranny?"

"It will have been totally worth it, that much I know."

Blue sighed before facepalming. "I don't know what else to tell you, darling..." he said while trying his best to be patient. "I-It's not going to work out. It's just not. Trust me on this."

Pearl the Elder then bolted up from her sedan chair with an exasperated glare on her face. "Then get out of my sight. Else I'll punish you for being the unsupportive little sycophant you've made yourself to me."

"Show me how, then."

Pearl the Elder summoned her glaive and stabbed him through the mouth. Almost immediately after that, Blue began to gag and whimper as the spiral blade met with his uvula.

"Figures it would be appropriate to stab you through the mouth since that was your weapon of defiance." she commented snidely.

As soon as she had said the last word, Blue retreated into his gem, which was basically a trapezoid shape on his right hip that could summon a boomerang during times of confidence.

Pearl the Elder then proceeded to leave with the glaive embedded on the wall and her husband's gem on the floor.


	8. Chapter 8

"Pearl!" Larimar screamed in fright as she ran to her regal sister. "Pearl! Pearl!"

Pearl bolted up from her throne and caught the Caribbean blue Gem in her arms. "Larimar, what happened?" she asked out of concern.

"You should've been there, Pearl!" Larimar started crying. "Momma and Poppy got into a fight and Momma said she was going to kill you and the baby and then she speared Poppy through the mouth and he retreated into his gem!" She couldn't stop herself from crying her eyes out; however, her entire body had barely moved at all.

"Where's his gem?" Pearl asked, now scared out of her wits as well.

Larimar pulled away for a moment and shakily pulled out Blue Topaz's gem. She then proceeded to place the trapezoid-shaped blue topaz into her sister's hands.

"Oh God..." Pearl was now teetering with uneasiness. "What did Father say you should do if Mother went after you again?"

"That we should kill her?"

"He actually suggested that?"

Larimar slowly nodded her head. "He also said that the voices in Momma's head were telling her to kill you because you were going to bring 'tie-rainy' and something called strife across the land." she answered quietly.

"Oh, dear..." Pearl nearly puked in their mouth. "In that case, we need to be ready and kill her when the time is right..."

Suddenly, Lapis Lazuli showed up and announced, "Your Majesty, Garnet told me to tell you that your old friends are here."

That was enough to catch Pearl off-guard. The white Gem Queen then craned her neck to face her Chancellor. "Oh, um, bring them in." she said, acting rather flustered. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting them."

And bring them in, the Chancellor did. Fourteen-year-old Steven was making out with Amethyst, Jade was giving Aquamarine a piggyback ride, Fluorite was teetering excitedly for whatever reason, and little Orange Topaz was holding Tanzanite's hand.

"Wow, gross!" Larimar sounded when she noticed the two lovebirds deep-kissing.

Pearl, too, caught sight of this and focused on them. "Steven?" she spoke out to the male half. "Amethyst? I have another guest with me. You'll have plenty of time to engage in PDA later."

This snapped them out of their makeout session.

"Huh?" was the first thing to come out of Steven's mouth. He then managed to get a peek at Larimar. "Pearl, I don't know who this is."

"Oh, right." Pearl suddenly remembered. "Larimar, this is my surrogate son Steven. Steven, this is my sister Larimar."

"Sister? You never told me-"

"Well, I had no idea she existed until a month ago. She's pretty naive like you are."

"Oh, um, hi, Larimar."

Larimar chattered, "By Marble, it is so nice to meet you! I've wondered so much about you!" while she hugged him so tightly that she was practically constricting him.

Pearl giggled a bit. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention that she's also kind of like a child stuck in a young adult's body." she added.

Aquamarine laughed at the remark. "No kidding!" she shouted in.

Suddenly, Pearl began to stroke her stomach again.

"What are you doing?" Tanzanite asked.

Pearl answered, "Oh, uh, I've been doing that at times ever since I found out I'm pregnant."

Everybody except Lapis and Pearl and Larimar yelled out, "What?!"

"No, Pearl!" Steven cried out as he fastened himself onto his surrogate mother. "Please don't leave us like how Mom left Dad! We'd be so sad if you left."

Orange Topaz freed herself from Tanzanite's grip and embraced the white Gem Queen too.

"Calm down." Pearl assured them. "I'm not going away."

"What are you talking about?" Steven asked, confused by what she had just said. "Don't all Gems have to give up their physical forms when they have children?"

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"Well, yes, Gems do have to give up their forms to do that. But there are some exceptions; Star Sapphires and Pearls, for example, are two of the only Gem races that don't need to give up their forms in order to reproduce. But with Pearls, the gem just develops along with the child. So really, I think I should be fine if the baby is going to be a Pearl."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."


	9. Chapter 9

Later, Pearl had invited the old gang to join her, Garnet and Larimar for the evening alongside some aristocrats who seemed rather bored out of their skulls. These aristocrats were, as follows, a Pearl named Narcissa, an orangish Gem who very clearly looked like an Amber, and a pistachio-green Gem named Epidote. While nobody seemed to really mind these aristocrats, those three Gems were rather judgmental about most everything.

"You know..." Epidote began. "I couldn't help but notice there was a growing number of 'freedom fighters' among us, Your Majesty. It seemed to me like your mother was responsible. Anybody asks me, I fully believe she is in the makings of being a terrorist, a mentally ill terrorist if you will."

"That's exactly what I was afraid of." Pearl spoke up. "I can't help but worry- more so than usual, as a matter of fact - that she will try to kill me at any time. I don't want to have to live like this."

"Which is why we've decided that it would be best to attempt killing her on sight." Garnet added.

Everybody except the Queens and Larimar just stared at their rulers.

"But I thought we were taught, as guardians of the universe, to never kill anybody?" Steven interjected out of confusion.

"Said the half-gem twat obviously screwing the brains out of a distant relative." Narcissa snarked in an aside to Amber before snickering like a prepubescent boy.

"I heard that..." Pearl snarled at Narcissa. She then diverted her attention to her surrogate son. "Anyway, of course guardians of the universe like us aren't supposed to take other individuals' lives; it's in our moral code to always do as much good as we can. But in Mother's case, we've done all that we could for her and it's always ended horribly. Therefore, since our belief dictates that there's no more hope for her to recover and ever lead a normal life, we feel we have no choice but to put her out of her misery."

"Please don't do this..." Steven begged. "There must be another way."

"Steven, she attacked Larimar and had my father retreat into his gem. As far as I'm concerned, there's no other way."

"You don't know that!"

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? Leave her alive so she can kill me and my unborn child?"

The aristocrats stared at each other in shock and apprehension. But they didn't have think about the forthcoming consequences because Pearl the Elder had suddenly burst in and started attacking everybody!

"Oh mighty Pumice, have mercy on us!" Amber cried out to the sky in pure fear. "Please stop this madwoman!"

"I've told you once and I'm going to tell you again: I am not mad in the slightest!" Pearl the Elder yelled furiously at Amber. "Viva la Revolucione!"

Garnet almost instanly summoned her gauntlets and got into attack mode, with the others following suit. Amber started off by throwing her shruiken from her cheek gems at the white Opheliac Gem, while Epidote ran at full speed and aimed her body weight at her back. Unfortunately, Pearl the Elder moved too quickly for them and Amber's shuriken hit Epidote's arms instead, slicing them in half.

"Amber!" Epidote screamed in pain as the four halves of her arms hung at her sides. "Look what you've done!"

When the orangish-yellow Gem saw the injuries she had accidentally inflicted on her friend, she grabbed her own head and yelled out in a long, drawn-out and dramatic fashion, "No!" while Epidote retreated into her gem. Garnet then proceeded to throw punches at Pearl the Elder, only to miss the mark half of the time. All the other times, though, Pearl the Elder flinched quite a bit. And yet that didn't stop her from literally fighting for her cause.

"C'mon, G!" Amethyst yelled out. "Let's asphalt this asshole!"

Amethyst summoned her whip and cracked around one of Pearl the Elder's ankles. The crystals dung into the pale Opheliac Gem's skin, forcing her to howl in pain. She struggled to break herself free from that bondage while Tanzanite led Aquamarine and Topaz into another room, Amber prepared to throw her shruiken again, and Narcissa unleased her pointy-ended crucifix. Once again, Amber missed and the shuriken headed straight for the pregnant Gem Queen. With a touch of quick thinking, however, Garnet managed to push her beloved Pearl out of the way at the last second and the shuriken embedded themselves into a wall instead.

"Dammit to Obsidian!" Amber cursed when she had realized her error.

Narcissa ran head-on at Pearl the Elder with the crucifix, but then she tripped over herself and landed with the crucifix pinning Pearl the Elder's skirt down with one end and impaling Narcissa through the eye with another. Just as quickly as Epidote, she retreated into her gem. Now practically immobile, Pearl the Elder was now cringing at what was to come. Her white Gem daughter proceeded to summon her glaive and use that to pin down the Opheliac's free foot.

"We're sorry, Mother..." Pearl solemnly voiced. "...but we can't allow you to live like this any longer..."

The look on Pearl the Elder's face spelled out despair, the very feeling that her own daughters were emulating right now.

"But..." the matriarch Gem started. "...what about Blue? What about him? What does he say?"

"He told me you needed to die, Momma..." Larimar whimpered. "And you made him retreat into his gem, remember?"

The Opheliac Gem shook her head slowly and almost started crying.

"Larimar?" Pearl spoke up again. "Do what you have to do?"

The Caribbean blue Gem inhaled as much air as her lungs could take before she setting her mother's face on fire, further breaking the pearl and eventually destroying it. Pearl the Elder toppled over dead instantly and disintegrated in just as much time.


	10. Chapter 10

Three months later...

Pearl's abdomen was now barely distended, no longer simply obscured with flowy dresses but not yet obvious to the rest of the world either. The white Gem Queen sat upon her throne with her legs crossed and her hands twiddling on her stomach. She hadn't been this apprehensive since before she killed her own mother out of what she thought was, for lack of a better word, necessity. No matter, though. All seemed peaceful again, and that's exactly how she expected things to be from then on.

 _Queen's Log, Stardate... erm, Thursday?_ Pearl internally monologued. _Well, I did it. I broke our moral code just to save my mother from endangering herself and other people; it was hard, I know, but at least now, Larimar and Father should be safe again. As for my unborn child, I still don't know what I'm going to name it. It seems every name I've come across to have ever existed has been taken: Augustus, Grace, Trinity, Ivory... well, that last name might be too ironic anyway. But enough of that! Hopefully, the citizens are-_

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Chancellor Lapis Lazuli showed up with an urgent message.

"Your Majesty?" Lapis spoke up.

"Yes?" Pearl asked.

"Garnet wants me to show you something she had me fetch for you this morning."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you, Your Highness. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Ah. Well, where is she? I haven't seen her all day."

"That's a surprise, too."

"Can't you just take me to her?"

Lapis smiled. "That can be arranged."

The neophyte Chancellor took Pearl by the hand, led her upstairs and then outside and then the fifty-foot-long railed balcony. Pearl spotted her beloved Garnet near the edge right away.

"Hello, my fellow Queen!" Pearl greeted with enthusiasm. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular..." Garnet replied with a shy intonation. "I had Lapis fetch something for you. Would you like to see it?"

Pearl vigorously nodded her head.

Garnet let out a small smile. "Very well... Lapis!"

As if on command, Lapis produced a small white box and handed it over to the hot-pink Gem Queen. Garnet then proceeded to open the clamshell box and get down on one knee.

 _Is this what I think it is?_ Pearl thought out of curiosity.

Sure enough, Garnet asked, "Pearl, will you marry me?"

Pearl was so overwhelmed with shock and joy that she nearly screamed when she answered, "Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!" and hugged her beloved Queen.

Once the pale Gem Queen let go, Garnet placed the ring on Pearl's index finger. The ring was 24k white gold with a garnet heart surrounded on all sides by pearls and framed by the same metal; it was, in fact, so beautiful that it drove Pearl to tears and lots of happy babbling.

"Oh, Garnet, I love it." she blubbered with joy. "I love you!"

Lapis, who was watching the whole time, was crying happily as well. She couldn't believe how much they loved and cared for one another; as a matter of fact, she was secretly wishing them good luck on their future marriage.

"You want me to tell your associates?" Lapis's voice was cracking as she wept.

Pearl turned to face her trusted advisor. "Yes, go ahead." she answered while also weeping.


	11. Chapter 11

Some time later, Epidote and Narcissa came over to the palace to visit their friend for the first time since they had regenerated. Epidote's arms each had a long, somewhat thin line running down the center from where Amber's shuriken had made their mark, while Narcissa had now gone blind in her one of her eyes. Following behind them were Larimar and Blue Topaz. Blue Topaz looked remarkably intact except for a small scar at the back of his head where the exit wound had been. He had his daughter hold his hand while they were following the aristocrats.

As the group made its way through the palace, Blue couldn't help but notice how jumpy Larimar was acting. He figured she must've been rather excited to meet her sister again, especially after what happened.

"Calm down, love," Blue told her. "We're almost there. Besides, I've been wondering what else has happened since I retreated into my gem." As he said this, he couldn't help but remember his dead wife. "I still can't believe the love of my life is gone. I wish we didn't have to resort to killing her."

"Um, hello, she-" Epidote was going to speak up before having the cerulean-hued pointy-eared Gem interrupt her.

"I know..." Blue sighed. "She tried to kill everybody, but I didn't want to do it. I just... I don't know anymore."

"Forget it, Blue, what's done is done," Narcissa assured him.

They came across the Gem Queens intimately holding hands while Pearl's face was flushed aqua blue all over.

"Oh my..." Epidote remarked ala George Takei. "What's with the displays of affection, Your Majesties?"

"Oh, nothing." Pearl giggled. "We've just been a bit giddier than usual."

"A bit?" Blue raised an eyebrow at this. He then diverted his attention to Garnet. "Okay, Garnet. I know I'm going to come off as nosy for asking this, but did you go down on her again?"

"Father!" Pearl whined. "You shouldn't have to know what happens in bed!"

The other three Gems could only giggle at this.

"No, no, Pearl, it's okay," Garnet assured her. She then answered Blue, "No, sir. We haven't had any real time for intimacy since Pearl became pregnant. We're actually ecstatic because we're engaged to be married."

Epidote, Narcissa, and Larimar all gasped and looked at each other at the same time. Blue, though, just had his eyes widen with surprise. A few seconds later, the other three Gems squealed with joy at this marvelous news.

Blue chuckled, "Congratulations, Your Majesties. I wish you luck on your future marriage." He then caught sight of the 24k white gold ring Pearl had on her finger. "Oh, is this your engagement ring?"

"Yes, that's it," Pearl giggled and blushed a deeper blue as her father inspected the ring on her hand. "Isn't it just beautiful?"

"Absolutely!" Blue exclaimed. "Where'd you get this?"

"Garnet had our Chancellor fetch this from Calaverite," the white Gem Queen explained to him. "She said the internatonally-renowned Lepidolite had it specially made for me." She sighed dreamily and blushed an even deeper blue as she said this.

"I always knew you two had feelings for one another," Narcissa pitched in.

"Me too," Larimar added before running up to embrace her sister, which Pearl returned with a calm demeanor and a mellow expression on her face.

*****************

Later...

Pearl sat pensively at the writing desk in the master bedroom, thinking of what to write down in her manuscript. She was finding it impossible to dwell on philosophical and strategic matters today, and who could blame her? She still found herself in shock at the thought of marrying one of her dearest and nearest companions, who just happened to be helping her rule over lower-class Gems. (She felt that calling the citizens "inferior" would be an insulting, not to mention out-of-character, thing for her to do.) Only the Pantheon knew what the other Gems were thinking about this, but she frankly didn't care. She was happy and that was all that mattered.

"Your Highness?" Pearl heard somebody speak.

Pearl turned to see Lapis standing near the door. "You called for me?" the white Gem Queen asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"What for, might I ask?"

"Your fellow Queen wants to know if it would be acceptable to hire Lady Tabby Quartz to plan the wedding."

"I don't recall. Is she Chancellor Zoisite's half-sister, perchance?"

"Of course she is, my Queen. Should we hire her? She's only one of the best wedding planners in the whole Queendom."

"Absolutely, just as long as she doesn't try to kill anybody."

Lapis nodded before walking off.

Pearl sighed dreamily at the thought of her beloved Queen.

To her, Garnet was the most beautiful Gem to ever exist next to Rose Quartz. The pale Gem Queen would never forget the day she started to fall for the hot pink Gem like a child; it had been shortly after Michelangelo had died and the Gems had to leave his estate. She had been somewhat flustered about this because she had no idea how Garnet would've reacted, especially after what they had done the few years prior in Il DIvino's master bedroom. She couldn't even imagine them working out in the long run, so she never told her... From that, all of her sexual and romantic pathos built up inside her and only festered for so long that it was a wonder her mind didn't break like her mother's. Indeed...

Anyway, Pearl's fantasties of Garnet were interrupted when a gold Gem priestess named Heliodor dropped by.

"How are you today, Your Majesty?" Priestess Heliodor asked with a kind inflection in her voice.

"Just wonderful..." Pearl exhaled abstractedly.

"Good, good." Heliodor smiled in a way only a demigoddess like her could pull off. She then said, "A little bird told me you and Garnet are now engaged. Can you confirm the truth of that?"

"Of course, dear priestess." Pearl lifted her hand up, exposing the ring on her finger.

"Dear Mother, that ring is absolutely beautiful!" the gold priestess gasped in delight as she felt a giggling fit coming onto her. That went away after a few minutes, followed by a moment of silence that soon ended in brevity when she noticed the white Gem Queen's expanding abdomen. "I see you're also with child. Well, Your Highness, I hope in all the Heavenly Realms that you have a safe and pain-free- well, mostly pain-free -delivery."

"Amen," Pearl rejoined.

With that said, the two Gems exchanged their goodbyes before Heliodor made tracks.


	12. Chapter 12

Some time later, Lady Tabby Quartz arrived at the palace with unwavering confidence. She knew that it was an honor to have the Queens hire her for planning their wedding, and she didn't want to disappoint. She especially wanted them to know she was nothing like her deceased half-brother in the slightest.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" the slender, milky bluish-white Gem Tabby shouted when she spotted Pearl. "I don't mean to brag, but can I tell you how wonderful it is that you chose me?"

"Yes, it is an honor indeed." the white Gem Queen smiled as she held her stomach in her hands.

"Now where's the other Queen?" Tabby asked when she noticed that Garnet was missing.

"I believe she and Lapis are out shopping at the market for a military suit that'll fit her frame."

"Oh, she's not going to be wearing a dress? Well, at least we know who'll be wearing the pants in this relationship."

Pearl giggled at this. "Anyway, what sort of dress do you recommend?" she asked. "I haven't picked one out yet and I'm afraid I won't be able to pick the right one."

Tabby Quartz thought for a moment and answered, "Well, the possibilities are just endless! What would you say your ideal pick is?"

"Well, you know about 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' being my favorite Shakespearean play of all time, don't you?"

"Of course!"

"Well, I'd like to wear a dress that'd make me feel like Titania the Queen of the Fairies."

"So a lightweight dress with organza sleeves, a boned bodice, lace up front and back, and petticoat might suffice then?"

The white Gem Queen nodded her head silently. "Well, could you have someone make a slight adjustment at the front for me?"

"No problem!"

At that moment, Priestess Heliodor came back into the palace. It had been pouring outside, so the demigoddess priestess was forced to take up an umbrella. As she walked over to them, she shook out the crystal-bamboo contraption to the point that she nearly broke one of the umbrella's spines and smirked sheepishly.

"Good morrow, ladies!" Heliodor greeted the Gem Queen and her guest.

"Hello to you, too, Priestess!" Tabby smiled.

"I take it everybody's getting along well?" Heliodor asked.

"Oh yes..." Pearl answered.

"Good, good..."

"I thought you were going back to the Temple of your mother. Why'd you come back suddenly?"

"Well, it is pouring out and I just walked through several miles of mud. Plus, the pontifex hasn't arrived yet with the keys so I can't get in yet anyway."

Tabby pursed her lips. "We were just going over wedding plans." she said prudently. "Would you mind joining us?"

"I'd love to!" Heliodor answered cheerfully.


	13. Chapter 13

The sun was starting to set, making the sky a gorgeous rainbow of dark blues and some lighter blues and a few purples that fluctuated across the sprawling horizon. Facing the horizon was the Temple of Heliodor, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere despite being sandwiched between the royal Chalcopyrite palace and the Zeolite Brothel by only a few miles each. Inside a small windowless part of the Temple, the few solar rays that were left shone through a translucent ceiling panel, the only source of light present right now in this room. Many specially-dressed Gems from all sorts of races and all walks of life were entering the sacred Temple, where a royal wedding was about to commence.

In this same windowless room, the smell of perfume and air fresheners was dominant over the air molecules. Pearl was having her domestic servants prepare her Titania dress and fix up her hair into a elaborate and yet somewhat-ridiculous display. The white Gem queen was sitting at a large stone dressing table with a mirror about as long as her whole body, and makeup and accessories strewn about everywhere much to the perfectionist's dismay. The six months pregnant Gem Queen looked absolutely gorgeous this evening, especially in this kind of attire. There was a bronze lectus upholstered with rainbow-dyed elder down directly beneath the ceiling panel in the middle of the room; reclining in it was the lucky bride's sister Larimar who was wearing a indigo-dyed tunic with a lighter-hued stola and a translucent navy-blue palla worn over her head.

"You look so pretty!" Larimar swooned as she watched the ancillae prepping her sister for her big day.

"Thank you, you couldn't be any kinder." Pearl said gratefully as she glanced at the Caribbean-blue Gem through the full-length mirror. She winced slightly in pain as one of the ancillae Tiger Iron pulled on her hair.

"Sorry, mistress..." the black Gem Tiger Iron grinned sheepishly. "I-I promise I won't do it again."

"Don't push your luck, ancilla." Pearl warned.

"Anything for you, mistress, just as long as you don't cut off my hands." Tiger said with a hint of desperation in her voice, as her black hair with gold and red streaks started to fall apart.

The other ancilla Aventurine was doing her best to thread the silk lace through the back of the corset of the Titania dress as tightly as was possible without harming the baby, while Pearl just looked herself over at the mirror. She was wearing a bit more makeup than usual, with many layers of turquoise eyeshadow spread across her eyelids and a fine shimmer of lip gloss on. She also had on some Alice blue blush on to illuminate her divinity and grace among all else.

"So Pearl, you excited about sharing your love with Garnet for all eternity?" Larimar asked.

"Yes, and I'm sure the baby is too..." Pearl chuckled, referring to how much it was kicking right now and especially in the last few hours. "It's _definitely_ Garnet's."

"You want anything else, mistress?" Aventurine asked while pushing flower pins into the three golf ball-sized buns at the back. "Because then comes the flamma."

"No, whatever's going on back there will suffice." Pearl replied dismissively. "That is all."

"Okay..." Aventurine smirked before adjusting the green laurel crown once more and spreading the flamma over her slavemistress's head.

The white Gem Queen stood up quickly to look herself over once more for any mistakes that may've been left behind.

"What do you think, mistress?" Tiger asked hopefully.

Pearl replied, "You ladies did a pretty good job, actually." She then felt a bit of pregnancy rachialgia go through her. "I don't exactly feel great myself, but that's only because I'm practically being forced to lug a child inside my body everywhere I go. Ack, my back!"

"You okay?" Larimar asked out of concern while getting up off the lectus.

"I'm fine now, Larimar." Pearl answered dismissively once again. "Just walk me out of this room, okay?"

The Caribbean-blue Gem nodded cheerfully and grabbed hold of her sister's arm as they walked out of the windowless room, through the cella, and eventually out into the atrium where everybody else was waiting, including Garnet who happened to be wearing a military suit that was almost identical to Zoisite's.

"There you are!" was the first thing Blue Topaz said when he saw his two daughters coming. He ran over to Pearl and hugged her.

"Oof, careful, Father!" Pearl laughed. "You don't want to..." She trailed off suddenly.

"Oh, that's right..." Blue giggled nervously. "You've already got a tight enough fit around you." He then turned to Garnet and asked, "Did you see your lucky bride come in, Your Majesty? Isn't she just divine?"

"Indeed." Garnet let out a small smile. "She is a Pearl, after all."

"Naturally." Pearl blushed a darker shade of cerulean. "Oh, I think Steven would just love this! Speaking of, where is he anyway?"

"Ooh, he's right there making out with Amethyst!" Larimar pointed the two lovebirds out somewhere in the crowd.

"Of course." Pearl laughed while rolling her eyes when she, too, saw them. "Figures they'd be making out. It's all we ever see them do these days."

"Well, are we ready?" Garnet asked her bride with an eager smile.

The white Gem Queen nodded her head anxiously and grabbed onto the arm that Garnet was holding out. Soon, they found themselves facing the pontifex Sphalerite, who happened to be the same one to preside over young Rose Quartz's marriage to her surrogate father Nephrite back at the Temple of the Venerable Goddess.

"Her Royal Majesty Queen Garnet, Her Royal Divinity Queen Pearl, come." Sphalerite demanded dryly.

The two Gem Queens stepped forward into the green-hued Gem pontifex's vision while she produced a rather small but sturdy piece of platinum rope reserved exclusively for royals. She then ordered them to face each other while she bound their right hands with the rope.

"Now, Her Royal Divinity Queen Pearl, repeat after me: where you are Gaia, I am Gaia Secunda." Sphalerite ordered again, this time with a bit more force into her voice.

Pearl pursed her lips and proceeded to repeat what she had heard. Once she was finished, the Gem pontifex lifted her hands up into the air and declared, "It's done! Good luck to you and may you live your lives with joy and loyalty to one another."

But just as Sphalerite had said all this, someone shot an arrow through the open space above and into the crowd where one of the onlookers was shot dead instantly. This onlooker, who happened to be a Sodalite, disintegrated into nothing a few seconds later; this managed to frighten the hell out of all the other guests and the brides and give the unknown assailant an opportunity to jump down and prepare for attack.

"G-G-Garnet?" Pearl stuttered while she and her lover stared at the cloaked newcomer.

"Yes, love?" the hot pink Gem Queen asked.

"I have a feeling the 'Revolucione' didn't die with my mother..." Pearl hypothesized.


	14. Chapter 14

Practically everyone in the atrium was shaking with fear as they stared and stared at the cloaked black Gem. The assailant's pomegranate-red eyes were the only things to stand out from this humanoid enigma, giving away the first hint of its identity which only Pearl was able to figure out right away.

"Garnet, do you see who it is?" Pearl asked with a quiver in her voice.

At first, Garnet couldn't understand what her bride was asking about, but once she locked eyes- all three of them -with the cloaked figure's, the hairs on her back almost immediately flared up.

"Did you forget about me?" the cloaked Gem snarled. "Did you expect me to come back after what happened to my master Zoisite?"

Blue Topaz and Larimar just stared at each other, confused about who this was and why it seemed to have known Garnet and Pearl.

"Garnet..." Pearl said quietly. "...we need to get out of here... Otherwise, Onyx is going to make this celebration our last..."

"Now..." Onyx(?) began. "...after leaving me to die from the venom and forcing me to undergo such torment and grief that I've felt for so long, I'm giving you no choice but to die... not just for Zoisite... but for democracy too!" It diverted its attention to the rest of the Gems in the atrium. "Join me, freedom fighters! Are you in or are you out?" it then goaded on.

"It's you who's out, would-be assassin!" Blue retorted as he summoned his boomerang. "Out of your mind!"

The cerulean-hued Gem threw his weapon at the cloaked figure's head, but she telekinetically stopped it in mid-air and swung it at Garnet. However, the hot pink Gem Queen was already summoning her gauntlets; using her third eye to catch sight of the boomerang coming her way, she extended her fists and rammed into the curved weapon, breaking it into a bajillion pieces. Frustrated with this, Onyx(?) then proceeded to start rushing at Garnet before she found herself bound by Amethyst's whip. Amethyst then threw the assailant backwards into the ground, the crystals digging themselves into several parts of her body. Onyx(?), however, just thought to break herself free with the power of her mind, and did so.

"You two think you're gods?" Onyx(?) persisted. "You think you'll be able to make this queendom over in your image? Well, guess what? If you're God, then I think God is dead!"

She stood up, took control of a Wonderstone and a Wascoite in the crowd, and summoned their weapons (eye energy beams for Wonderstone and bolts of lightning from Wascoite's fingertips) against their wills.

"What is happening?!" Wonderstone screamed as she felt the energy beams blast out of her eyes and head for Garnet. "Why can't I shut my eyes?!"

However, Garnet's third eye noticed the beams coming at her straight away and she got out of the way in the nick of time. The pontifex Sphalerite, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate and found herself completely and utterly fried (her gem being destroyed in the process as well) while simultaneously struck by lightning.

"Dear Heliodor..." Blue muttered in disbelief when he had just witnessed this. "They just blasted our pontifex into oblivion..."

Meanwhile, Wonderstone and Wascoite had already been knocked out, partially thanks to some of the Gems in the atrium. This gave Onyx(?) ample time to prepare another attack and strike again.

"Playtime's over!" Onyx(?) declared. "Now I'm serious!"

But just as Onyx(?) was about to unleash this latest and perhaps rather fatal blow at the white Gem Queen, the former Gem gladiatress Jade grabbed ahold of Onyx(?) and threw her so high into the air like a football that she just vanished out of sight!

The green Gem turned to look at the shocked faces of all the other Gems and said rather smugly, "You're welcome."

"Wow..." one Gem just said in response to the whole thing.

"What was that about?" another asked out of confusion.

Frankly, none of the Gem Queens seemed to care about it, but at least nobody else died and they were still married even with the officiating pontifex dead.


	15. Chapter 15

It had now been four months since the wedding, and Pearl was due anytime now. Her sister Larimar and father Blue Topaz had been visiting less and less frequently since then; so much so, in fact, that now they were coming only once every six weeks. While she couldn't have been more disappointed by this, she also seemed rather happy about everything else. Not only was there much peace and prosperity across the land she shared with her wife Garnet, but she absolutely loved most of her wedding gifts, especially the silver telescope Rose Quartz's father Rhodochrosite had given her.

Speaking of the telescope, Pearl was looking through it on the balcony right now. She could see so many celestial bodies through that sophisticated magnifying glass and it just amazed her to no end. There must've been thousands- if not millions -in the sky above, and she wanted to see as many as she could.

Suddenly, a domestic servant-child by the name of Mimetite had come out here as if from out of nowhere. The orange diminutive ancilla ran up to Pearl's stomach and yelled out, "Na-ni na-nu!" in Robin Williams's voice. She loved to make the baby kick, and always managed to whenever she got the chance.

"That's nice, Mimetite, but I'm not in the mood right now." Pearl said dismissively while still looking through her telescope. "How about later?"

"Okay, mistress!" Mimetite perked up.

"There you are, child!" someone shouted while approaching the balcony.

Pearl turned around to see Aventurine scooping up Mimetite in her arms.

"Hey, Avi!" Mimetite laughed when she saw the older blue-green Gem ancilla.

"Child, don't you know better than to run off from me?" Aventurine asked the young orange Gem.

Pearl smiled. "Don't worry, ancilla. She didn't really cause me any trouble. I will, however, suggest that you watch her more closely from now on. Now leave me."

As soon as the two domestic servants left, Pearl found herself alone again... but not for long. Now Garnet herself had come onto the scene. The hot pink Gem Queen walked up behind Pearl while she was looking through the telescope, and wrapped her arms around the only part of her mate's torso that wasn't distended.

"By Selenite, these stars are beautiful!" Pearl said aloud in astonishment.

"Not as beautiful as you are, though..." she suddenly heard Garnet speak.

The white Gem Queen turned around to see her beautiful wife right behind her, while the latter lifted her up and held her close so as to synchronize their faces. Almost immediately after this, the baby gravitated towards the body heat Garnet was giving off.

"They've always seemed to be moving to your voice and touch ever since they were able to." Pearl commented incredulously. "I don't get it."

"I can hardly believe it myself." Garnet rejoined. "But I don't really mind."

"Don't tell me they already picked you as their favorite mother." Pearl joked.

Garnet laughed back. "Well, I don't know about that, but I do know you'd make for one of the best." This comment made Pearl blush a slightly darker shade of cerulean. "Anyway, I love you."

"I love you, too." Pearl responded with a sweet smile before pecking Garnet on the cheek. "Put me down now. I'm really fascinated by these stars in our skyline."

"Alright..." Garnet chuckled before doing as she was told.

At that moment, Larimar had already showed up without a single sound or word to be heard, almost as if she came out of nowhere.

"Larimar?" Pearl asked out of confusion. "Where'd you come from?"

"From the egg in Momma's womb." she replied in a naive manner.

"No, I meant-" Pearl tried to clarify before Garnet stopped her.

"Pearl, relax." Garnet demanded. "That's not important right now. Besides, I don't want you to put yourself in danger."

"Wouldn't it be great if the baby came today?" Larimar asked with a cheerful smile.

"Why do you ask?" Pearl looked at her with suspicion.

"I don't know." Larimar shrugged. "It just occurred to me." She then walked back inside.

Still confused and now skeptical about this, Pearl asked, "Did that seem fishy to you at all? You don't suppose anything significant will occur today, do you?"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Garnet answered. "It's probably just an innocent question."

"I suppose you're right." the white Gem Queen started walking back to the telescope. "I mean, let's be honest: I can read too much into things like that sometimes. Besides, Larimar just isn't the kind of Gem to predict the future so I really have-" Before she could finish that sentence, though, twinges going through her abdomen instantly immobilized her and she fell to the ground in the worst kind of pain she'd ever felt. "Oh, God!"

"Pearl?" Garnet ran to her wife. "Pearl! What happened?"

"I think I'm going into labor!" The white Gem Queen seemed to be panicking and a little unsure about what exactly was going on, but she tried her best not to express it. "Get me inside... and hurry..."

Garnet picked her up and rushed her to the master bedroom.


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as Garnet came into the master bedroom, she power-walked her way to the queen-sized bed and laid Pearl down gently. Chancellor Lapis was already there finishing up on thank-you notes for the wedding gifts when she noticed all this.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" the blue Gem asked out of concern. "I couldn't help but see Garnet carry you in."

"No, Lapis..." Pearl was cringing in pain. "I'm about to give birth. Get the midwife over here... and hurry!" She was clearly in distress right now, and the clear slime (Gem egg yolk) squelching out of her orifice just now wasn't really helping matters. She tried to zone out, but she found it to be impossible with the contractions getting worse and all. She moaned as they followed one another every several minutes and then every few minutes. "I hope Garnet will be there for me... I'd hate to go through this alone."

"Mistress?" a mezzo voice suddenly spoke up. It came from the light-green physician Gem Prehnite, who had just been outside the door when she stopped and noticed the white Gem Queen lying on the bed.

"Prehnite, is that you?" Pearl tried to smile at the sight of her most trusted ancilla, but the pain was simply too much for her to bear. "Thank the Pantheon you're here..."

"Yes, indeed, we should thank the Pantheon. Just entered labor, I see?" Prehnite just sat herself down silently on the bed next to her slavemistress.

"Mm-hmm. I never would've thought it'd hurt so badly... I knew this was painful, but still..."

"Oh, I know, mistress." The Gem physician stroked her mistress's damp and sweaty peach-colored hair. "Seems like the last time I dealt with this was when I helped deliver that Ametrine child about two hundred Earth years ago. You remember that, don't you?" Pearl nodded her head as slowly as she could. "Now here you are, this close to bringing your children into the world and feeling like someone's pouring vinegar, battery acid and magma all at once throughout your body along the way. But all of this pain will've been worth it in the end. Honestly, mistress..."

"You're not just saying that to console me, are you?"

"Of course not! I guarantee you that you will be holding your babies in your arms, and the time you spend with your children will be priceless. I don't think even the highest price to be bid for a single slave would hold up." Prehnite then pulled out a miniscule syringe filled with vicodin. "Now try to stay calm while I inject this into your side, okay? This should hopefully subdue the intensity of the uterine contractions a bit."

************************

"I hope there's a good reason you and the Queen called me back here..." grumbled the midwife, yet another Gem ancilla who happened to be a Rhyolite. "So much for herding the other slaves around as if they were sheep..."

"Oh, trust us, ancilla." Garnet said. "We will not have recalled you in vain. Now come on."

Garnet and her Chancellor walked briskly into the master bedroom, with Rhyolite following closely behind, and came to Pearl's aid.

"I wonder what's going on in there..." the blue-green Gem ancilla Aventurine, who had been watching all this unfold before her, thought aloud.

"You think Mistress Pearl's having the baby?" Mimetite asked, suddenly excited about it. "What'd they need Rhino for?"

"I don't know, child, but it probably had something to do with..." Aventurine trailed off and her eyes widened. "Wow... wow!"

A few seconds later, Garnet and Lapis came out of the master bedroom and walked over to the triclinium, where they reclined in their lecti. Aventurine and Mimetite, being ancillae of course, were only allowed to sit down on the floor and so did so.

"Mistress Garnet, what's going on?" Mimetite looked up at her other slavemistress with curiosity.

The hot pink Gem Queen sighed. "Pearl's in labor."

"And Prehnite and Rhyolite told us that we're supposed to sit out here for a while." Lapis added.

"Why?" Mimetite pressed on.

"Because they say we can't do anything to help right now." Garnet answered, a bit frustrated by all that was happening at this very moment.

"Hmph." Aventurine grunted. "So then I guess we'll just have to wait, huh, mistress?"

Meanwhile in the master bedroom, Prehnite had already injected the vicodin into Pearl's side, but unfortunately it wasn't being effective at all. In fact, the contractions seemed to only grow worse and more frequent.

"Damn, I can't believe I underestimated the power of the vicodin..." Prehnite muttered, trying her best not to scream out in pain herself as Pearl was squeezing her hand with every contraction.

"Don't worry, Prehnite, there's not much it could've done anyway." Rhyolite assured the Gem physician. "After all, these aren't just ordinary pains we're dealing with here. They're-"

However, Pearl's caterwauling cut the Gem midwife off before she could finish her sentence.

"C'mon, Your Majesty." Prehnite told her slavemistress. "Everything's going to be okay. Just keep breathing for us."

Pearl just started crying from the pain. "Garnet!" she screeched at the top of her lungs while sobbing simultaneously. "I want you here! I can't handle this without you!"

"Go on, Prehnite." Rhyolite demanded. "Get Mistress Garnet in here!" She proceeded to shoo the Gem physician out the door.

Prehnite walked down the corridor to the triclinium, and spotted Garnet (who happened to be fast asleep from boredom) reclining on her lectus right away. She walked up right behind the bronze piece of furniture and proceeded to shake at the hot pink Gem Queen until she was awake. Aventurine and Mimetite, as well as some other slaves who had joined the wait, were confused by this at first until Prehnite had assured them everything was fine.

"Good to see you're awake now." the Gem physician said as she smiled down at Garnet.

Garnet started panicking a bit. "Prehnite? What are you doing out here so soon? What happened?! I heard screaming!"

"Nothing, Mistress Pearl's fine." Prehnite laughed a bit nervously. "But she told me to get you because she wants you to be there for her. I can't blame her. I'd want my wife or husband there, too. Now come on."

Garnet breathed a sigh of relief before following Prehnite back into the master bedroom.

Mimetite turned to look at Tiger Iron. "Is Mistress Pearl going to be okay?" she asked the black Gem ancilla.

"Oh, I hope so..." Tiger Iron replied desperately. "She's probably the best slavemistress we've had. I couldn't imagine my life without her, would you?"

******************

More caterwauling could be heard throughout the palace. Pearl was finding the pain to be incredibly excruciating and ungodly, especially since she had to squeeze Garnet and Prehnite's hands with every contraction that came and went. These contractions had now reached thirty-second intervals, which still felt like an exasperatingly long time, and were only going to become more and more frequent as time went on.

"C'mon, Pearl. breathe!" Garnet demanded. "You can do it!"

The white Gem Queen made at least one attempt to subdue her ragged and labored breathing before another twinge overtaking her forced her to scream out.

"Oh my Goddess..." Prehnite muttered while shaking her head. She craned her neck to look at the side of Rhyolite's face. "How far apart would you say she is now?"

"I believe she is ready..." Rhyolite muttered back. "Ten centimeters ready, to be exact."

"What now?" Pearl asked the Gem physician while seeming rather frightened.

Prehnite turned to her slavemistress and yelled, "Push, m'lady!"

The white Gem Queen let out more yowling as she pushed with all her might. Seeing how much pain her wife was in, Garnet decided to climb onto the bed and settle herself behind her and wrap her arms beneath her swollen, milk-filled breasts.

The hot pink Gem Queen called out, "Pearl?"

Pearl looked up at Garnet with tears continuously streaming down her face.

"Everything's going to be okay." Garnet assured her. "Just try thinking about me."

The white Gem Queen just nodded her head in spite of the unrelenting pain that went on.

"Now breathe like we've been telling you to." Garnet demanded.

Raggedly, Pearl inhaled and exhaled. Inhaled and exhaled. Inhaled and exhaled. Inhaled and exhaled.

"You feel a bit better?" Garnet asked as she felt her wife draw in and out these painful and uneven breaths.

Pearl let out a weak smile and nodded again, only to force herself to suppress yet another yelp of pain seconds later. "Oh, I don't know why I let you do this to me..." she whined while she continued to push.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Prehnite assured the white Gem Queen. "Trust us."

Just as the light green Gem had said this, Pearl shouted out when she felt something like a cannonball leave her body.

"The baby's crowning!" Pearl moaned as she was squeezing more of the child out of her body.

Rhyolite hadn't really been paying much attention to this, but then she stopped to catch sight of a round blob that made itself more and more visible through Pearl's expanded cervix.

"I see it!" the Gem midwife declared. "Yes!" Hopefully, this would be over soon. Admittedly, she couldn't have been happier for them, but this experience had a lot more exhausting than when even Xenotime the Younger (Pearl's aunt and the tyrant Chancellor Xenotime's daughter) was born.

A couple more pushes and a pulling of the shoulders later, it was finally over. Rhyolite cleaned the residue off of the baby before wrapping it with nearby sheets and handing it to Pearl. This nearly drove the white Gem Queen to tears as she looked down at the infant. She could hardly believe this was her baby she was holding. Correction, their baby. She looked up at Garnet, who seemed to be overcome with joy as well.

"Hold on a second..." Prehnite suddenly said.

"What?" Rhyolite asked out of confusion.

"Aren't you going to tell them if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Well, I think I'll let them find out for themselves."

Pearl started to unsheath the child before another twinge stopped her in her tracks and forced her to shriek again, while Prehnite proceeded to snatch up the new child herself. Rhyolite started getting back into position and was completely surprised to find that there was another round blob making its way out. Apparently, nobody had told her that she would be delivering twins!

"Another one's coming!" Rhyolite gasped. "C'mon, Your Majesty! Push!"

Pearl pushed this child out with the best of her ability, but it wasn't without difficulty. She was already tired from having to push out the first child, so she was getting worn out. This time around, though, it didn't seem as painful as before. After a few minutes, the second and final child was completely exposed to the outside world.

Rhyolite sighed, "Thank the Venerable Goddess this is really over now."

Just as the Gem midwife had said this, though, Prehnite had already started to finish what Pearl had begun and unwrapped the first child. Pearl, on the other hand, was rather pleased to find a pearl upon the second child's forehead but she unwrapped it anyway so as to solve the mystery of its sex.

It's a girl... the white Gem Queen thought immediately when she looked further down. A small, pleasant smile etched itself on her face. Of course...

This Pearl had rather white skin like her mother, but that would change in a few weeks when her skin turned dark like her "father" Garnet. The pearl itself had a pink tinge to it, but that was pretty much it. As for the eyes and hair, the eyes were red like Garnet's right eye and the hair looked to be dark brown in color and wavy in texture.

Meanwhile, Prehnite had just wrapped the first child, who turned out to be a Eudialyte to everyone's surprise. There was a pink heart-shaped gem on its chest for starters!

"Good Granite!" the Gem physician exclaimed. "This child has a heart-shaped gem..." She proceeded to look further down. "...and it's a boy!"

Pearl caught a glimpse at her firstborn. "Oh my goodness!" the white Gem Queen exclaimed as well. "Look at him, Garnet. Isn't he beautiful?"

Garnet smiled down at the child. "Certainly." she spoke.

The Eudialyte child also had dark skin like his "father," but not as much so. His eyes were also red like his sister's, but his hair was lighter brown with a peach tinge and much more curled in texture.

"Oh, wait until Steven hears about this..." Pearl muttered in an awestruck manner. "He'd be so happy..."

Prehnite wrapped the Eudialyte child back up and handed him back to Pearl. "So what are their names?" the Gem physician asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Their names, their praenomen."

"Oh, yes, I remember now. Garnet and I had agreed that our daughter would bear the praenomen Titania after Shakespeare's Queen of the Fairies."

"Hmm..."

"As for this rarity, our Eudialyte, his praenomen shall be Oberon, following the theme I set up in my head."

"Very good! Oberon Eudialyte Amatorius and Titania Pearl Maris, they shall be then!"

Prehnite then excused herself and left the bedroom for a moment. When she came back, Larimar and Mimetite and Aventurine were trailing right behind her.

Mimetite was the first to speak up. "They're cute!" she squealed. The little orange Gem ancilla was totally convinced that they were the cutest things in existence. "Can I hold one of them?"

Pearl looked up at Garnet with uncertainty plastered on her face, but Garnet told her to go ahead and let Mimetite hold one of them.

"Okay..." Pearl acquiesced. "...but which one?"

Mimetite picked Titania to hold; however, Aventurine had to supervise this for safety's sake. The blue-green Gem ancilla sat down and snatched up the small infant before handing her to the young ancilla.

"What about me?" Larimar asked out loud. "I want to hold one, too, but only for a little bit."

"Why?" Pearl asked in confusion.

"I'm supposed to be meeting with Poppy over at the Grossular Forums later."

"What for?" Pearl still found herself questioning Larimar's credibility due to the last, supposedly-innocuous question the Caribbean blue Gem had asked much earlier.

"He said it's supposed to be a surprise."

"If you say so..." Pearl acquiesced once again.

*************

Soon after all the visitors had left, Pearl and Garnet found themselves alone again with the twins. The hot pink Gem Queen now laid beside her wife, who had decided that she was going to rest up despite not needing to sleep.

"If you don't want to stay after this..." Pearl began. "...you don't have to. But just remember that we'll miss you if you ever make that decision."

"Believe me, you won't." Garnet rejoined. "I'm not going to leave you anytime soon."


	17. Chapter 17

Meanwhile, in a secluded tavern, Onyx stood, trembling and whimpering before a silhouetta who bore the body shape of an Emperor penguin. The black Gem's pomegranate eyes were tearing up at the prospect of four-month-old failure that accumulated inside her until she couldn't take it anymore.

"So... Black Onyx..." the silhouetta began. "You failed to kill the Queens on their wedding day when you had the chance..."

Onyx just silently nodded her head.

The silhouetta continued, "...and instead had a former gladiatress throw you up into the air and away like you were dead weight." She groaned a bit during that last part. "Surely, you know that failures don't sit well with me, don't you?"

"Yes'm..." the black Gem sighed submissively while she teetered with unhinged nerves.

"While Pearl the Elder may've not had the best mental health, given her ramblings..." the silhouetta still continued. "...at least she came closest to killing her daughters. Perhaps it was a mistake to send you to the Temple of Heliodor after all."

"But...but Chalcedony..." Onyx started to plead. "I had two Gems under mind control and they were this close to killing Garnet!"

"Which seems like you know a thing or two when it comes to strategy..." the silhouetta Chalcedony admitted. "...but you still failed. I'm sorry to do this, Black Onyx, but I think it's time to let you go."

Chalcedony summoned her weapon, which happened to be a giant pair of scissors, and proceeded to cut Onyx (as well as the gem on her forehead) in half. As Onyx's body disintegrated, Chalcedony turned to another silhouette (this one having the body shape of two pears conjoined at the bottom) and said, "Now it is up to you to finish what Pearl the Elder started. You must do what is necessary to make sure that anything having to do with the monarchy will never be acclaimed again. Assassinate the Queens, kidnap their twins and murder them if you have to; just anything to make the populace turn to us. Do you understand this unspeakably important task I put in your hands?"

The silhouette spoke with no emotion, "I do, madam..."


End file.
